It's still not talked about enough. And, in fact, only 29% of parents ask pediatricians for advice regarding the use of children's tablets and digital tools. But what are the risks for the psychophysical health of children who use them on a daily basis?
Children's tablet: the current state
On the web there are data that make you shiver: in the United States 92% of children start using devices within the first year of life and, according to
2 years old, the little ones use it daily. In Italy the situation is better, but not optimal: 20% of parents leave the cell phone to their one-year-old children to entertain them, a percentage which rises to 70% in the second year of life. Not to mention the kindergarten children: 80% use their cell phones. And yet, already 2 years ago the Italian Society of Pediatrics had pricked up its antennas by monitoring the phenomenon and expressing its opinion in the Italian Journal of Pediatrics after having carried out an in-depth analysis of the scientific literature to evaluate the positive and negative effects on health physical and mental health of children, in order to establish the most appropriate age for exposure to media devices and the correct methods.
Children's tablets: never before the age of two 
Never before age 2 Pediatricians agree on this: the use of touchscreens could interfere with children's cognitive development. In fact, young children need to have direct and concrete experience of objects and tools, in order to refine thinking and the ability to solve problems. Furthermore, there is no substitute for direct interaction with parents. The child under the age of 3 could certainly learn new words through the videos, but only if the vision takes place in the presence of the parent, who adds other verbal and non-verbal information during the sequences. At the same time, recent studies have shown that even the use of devices by parents influences the child's safety, mental well-being and family interactions. These tools, by interfering in the direct relationship between child and parent, can in fact have an impact on cognitive, linguistic and emotional development. Parents should lead by example: children are great imitators.
When growing up: tablet play in moderation
Even as the child grows it is necessary to limit the use to a maximum of 1 hour a day in children aged between 2 and 5 years and a maximum of 2 hours a day in those aged between 5 and 8 years : these are the main recommendations of SIP, elaborated on the basis of scientific evidence relating to the interactions between the use of devices and neurocognitive development, sleep, vision, hearing, metabolic functions, parent-child relationships and emotional development in childhood. For
don't talk about indirect consequences such as the risk of being overweight and the inability to establish social relationships with peers.
Some evidence also suggests that there is a correlation between tablet use and postural pain: even children as young as 8 may in fact need treatment for
headaches, neck and shoulder pain and poor posture , as they spend a lot of time in front of screens including those of cell phones. Eyesight also suffers from the effects of continuous exposure to smartphone, tablet and PC screens, with disorders ranging from dry eyes to concomitant acquired esotropia, a type of squint due to the too close distance between the eyes and the device. Hearing is another of the senses that can be compromised by early and prolonged exposure to intense levels of noise without periods of interruption: altered perception of sounds, with possible interference in language development and socialization.
The sleep
The use of multimedia devices can interfere with the quality of sleep through the increase of a psychophysiological stimulation caused both by stimulating contents and by exposure to bright light. This can impact sleep by delaying the circadian rhythm when exposure occurs during the evening. Also, sleep can be negatively affected by electromagnetic radiation.
Common sense and educational tablets
In general, however, the SIP does not intend to carry out a criminalization of digital technologies, recognizing on the contrary the positive impact of some applications on pre-school learning, provided they are used together with parents and for a limited amount of time.
Freely taken from an article by Laura Sciolla on Nascere Mamma
